James Buckley, best known for his role as Jay Cartwright in the hit sitcom The Inbetweeners, has announced he is giving up on football, criticising the modern Premier League as “boring” and lacking “characters”. The 37-year-old actor, a self-confessed “obsessed” Crystal Palace fan, said he has become a “football refugee” after losing interest in the game.
Despite Palace winning the FA Cup last season, their first major trophy, Buckley said on his podcast The Buckleys: “I’m sort of turned off of football, to be honest. It’s become something that I don’t really enjoy… The last few times I have sat down and watched a game, big matches between two big teams, it has been boring.” He added: “There’s no people doing anything interesting, there’s no characters in sport no more. All these kids are media trained from the age of 11 years old and they’ve got no personality.”
Buckley has now turned to American sports, particularly ice hockey, which he finds “super exciting” due to the frequent fights. He and his wife Clair have subscribed to NHL TV, and he also follows NFL and basketball. “I don’t know all the rules, but that’s not important… there’s a fight, there’s a little scrap, which is super exciting,” he said.
